


Dog Pile

by Enchanters Nightshade (Abstract_Apotheosis)



Series: The Domestic (Mis)Adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Julian Devorak [3]
Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Again, Dogs, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Healthy Relationships, Tickling, post-upright game ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-22 14:29:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22751116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abstract_Apotheosis/pseuds/Enchanters%20Nightshade
Summary: Julian was always a sucker for dogs, even these two. While his wife tries to encourage him it's okay to ask for things he wants and take them too. A tickle fight is unintentionally triggered.
Relationships: Apprentice & Julian Devorak, Apprentice/Julian Devorak
Series: The Domestic (Mis)Adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Julian Devorak [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1556962
Kudos: 23





	Dog Pile

“I’ll be with you in just a moment!” Julian called out of his office in response to the bell above his clinic’s door chiming. 

He was in the middle of finishing up his last patient’s file- a new patient that had come in to be treated for a sprained wrist- and didn’t want to forget anything specific to his patient that needed to be noted. It wasn’t that he was forgetful, but he did lose a few slight details if distracted. His brows furrowed when he heard the clicking sound his mind instantly recognized as dog paws against the wooden floors of his clinic. He quickly wrote the last note before getting up to investigate.

“I’m sorry,” He started as he began to open up his office door, “But any dogs or animals in general are not… allowed…” He trailed off as he looked about to find no human about. 

Just two fluffy white tails wagging earnestly at the edge of his vision. He looked down and a light gasp escaped him. A nervous smile edged onto his lips as he stared into the faces of two _very_ familiar Borzoi dogs. Their tails wagged even more at the eye contact.

“Well… _hello there_.” He shoved back his trepidation to the back of his mind, reminding himself that there was _no one_ around anymore to order them to attack him. He pulled his gloves off and let the two sniff at his hands. “It’s been quite a while, hasn’t it, _sobachki_?”

The dogs gave a quick sniff of his hands before they began to lick at them with eager whines. Julian couldn’t keep himself from letting out a light laugh before stooping lower and tentatively reaching behind their ears to give them a good ear rub. One hand for each dog. The two ate up his attention like they were starved of it. It was Melchior, the one with the ruined ear, that eventually leapt up to shove Julian over and Mercedes pounced upon his prone state. Fear ran through him for only a moment before her tongue lapped at his face.

Melchior’s front paws were standing on his stomach and he was licking up Julian’s exposed chest, causing him to laugh helplessly as his tongue tickled him. Both tails wagged excitedly as the man below said dogs pleaded between laughs for mercy. Melchior nor Mercedes let up and he had to close his mouth as he struggled not to laugh because Mercedes seemed determined to stick her tongue in his mouth. She had already caused his eyepatch to go askew and fall off his face entirely at her ministrations. All of a sudden Lady, his wife’s red Éirish Setter, was also now in the room, assisting the two menaces as she sniffed and poked her nose in his ticklish spots and lapped at his bare skin too.

“Hahaha! No! Whoahahaha! _Stop_! Stopstopstop- ahaahahaahaa- _Ne tam_! Please! Whahahaaha!” He begged between guffaws futility with the three dogs. He tried to push them off, but every time he managed one, the others overwhelmed him until all three could continue their affectionate doggy assault upon him. It took him a moment to think better of it and call out to the mastermind of these three. “O-odelia! Plea-egh- not in my mouth, hahaha, Mercedes! Odelia, ahahaha- _urk_ , Melchior, _ne tam_! Not _there_! S-save meeeee! Whahahaha.”

He was pretty sure he was crying from how hard he was laughing but with Mercedes washing his face, he wasn’t entirely sure. He had given up pushing them off and was covering his open mouth with a hand to protect himself from Mercedes’s tongue. He had also pulled his legs up to try to keep his more delicate parts protected.

“Save you?” His darling wife’s coquettish tone sent a trill down his spine. He peered up, having to force his eyes to stay open to see her standing with a bemused smile on her face as she watched the dogs kiss him. “I’m sorry, my darling love, but that’s not what I came here to do.”

“ _Nyet~ Nechestno~!!”_ was all he had time to squeal before she pounced on him with a war cry of “Tickle attack!”.

She sat on his lap, straddling him, and danced her strong fingers up and down his sides, causing him to wriggle and writhe as his laughter became even louder than before. His legs behind her kicking and squirming fruitlessly. She tugged his shirt out of his pants between tickles and he tried to use his free hand to stop her from unbuttoning his shirt further so the dogs had more skin to tickle, but either Melchior or Lady always seemed to get in the way and soon he was trying to curl up from how hard he was laughing, covering his face entirely as he guffawed uncontrollably. He could hear his wife’s peals of laughter as she took enjoyment from her teasing.

By the time Odelia called off the hounds (quite _literally_ ), he was shivering from the energy loss, dizzy from the unsteady air supply due to his constant laughter, and his muscles burning a bit from how hard and long he had laughed. His wife was already moving to grab him a blanket to wrap him up in. He was heaving every breath he had as he laid supine on the floor. He had no energy at the moment to move other than the shivers that wracked his body.

“I will admit, that was _not_ the original intention, but I quite enjoyed where it led.” Odelia told him as she wrapped a warm quilted down blanket around him and tucked a pillow under his head. “You okay?”

Melchior and Mercedes chose at that moment to cuddle up to him, one on each side and their heads resting on his chest as he regained control of his breathing. At first, he was a bit apprehensive, but seeing that neither dog had ill intention (or ready to give him round two of a tickle attack), he relaxed. He rested a hand on each dog’s head and rubbed their ears. Lady was sitting next to Odelia, ever her faithful companion.

“Ha… ha…. My legs feel weak and… haha… I feel like I may have popped a rib from all the laughing. But I didn’t _hate_ it.” He told her with a tired smile. “I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard in my life… haha-ha…”

“Well,” She patted his chest lovingly. “Gotta make sure you get daily dose of endorphins somehow.”

“ _Ya tak ustala seychas_.” His eyes closed heavily and he felt like, with the dogs wrapped around him like this he could drift off at a moment’s notice.

“You being tired is merely a bonus effect. Just like sex,” he let out a choking sound as his face colored pink, “except I think hearing you laugh is more enjoyable.” She made a thoughtful look before she met his gaze, her eyes turning sultry as she continued to talk. “Hmm, make it a _really_ close second. Or a non-sexual first. I love the sounds you make during sex. You get so whiny and needy and it's all so pretty and thrilling to observe.”

Before he got too worked up- because he _really_ was exhausted by how hard he had laughed- he decided to redirect his wife back to her original purpose of bringing _these_ two dogs to his clinic. “Ha… So, ah, uh, what was the, uh, _original_ intention, _Myska_?”

“Oh, yes, right!” His wife didn’t forget things necessarily, she just misplaced the thought when distracted. “Mel?”

The white slinky like dog whined, but got up to go fetch something that had been set on one of the chairs in the front of the clinic. He came back with an envelope carefully held in his mouth and proffered it to Julian. He raised a brow, looking first at the dog before glancing at his mischievous spouse, trying to get a feel for what was going on. He turned back to Melchior to take the letter and the dog cuddled back up to him after he did.

“What’s this, hmm?” He released his hold on Mercedes to open up the envelope with unadulterated curiosity. Inside was a written letter, in his wife’s hand.

“I helped pen it, is all.” Odelia told him as she reached over to play with Melchior’s good ear. “Doggy paws aren’t dexterous enough to write and they are not _that_ smart, but these doggies are smart enough to dictate for me.”

“Right. You can hear other people’s familiars.” He remembered the unusual quirk bestowed to her by having the body of an Arcana. The more shocking revelation hadn’t been that she could hear familiars as it was that these two had been Lucio’s. He unfolded the letter and began to read it out loud.

“Dear Doctor Hooman- really Odelia?”

“So I wrote it in character, it makes it cuter. The thespian in you should appreciate it. Keep reading.”

He heaved out a dramatic sigh, a playful smile on his lips, before beginning once more. “Dear Doctor Hooman, My sissy and me arwe verwy sorrwy we use to chase u and act like we would bite u. Our old pawpaw ( _snrk_ . Paw-paw? That’s adorable _Myska_ , even if you mean Lucy) told us to and we wanted to be good doggies fur our old pawpaw. But Pawpaw is gone now and we arwe alone.” 

He stopped, frowning as he looked over at Odelia, who was deliberately not making eye contact with him. He had a feeling he knew where this was going. Melchior let out a small woof and Mercedes nudged him with her nose, both wanting him to continue. There was an anxiousness in their forms causing their stilled tails to nervously twitch periodically as well.

He cleared his throat and continued. “Noddy-a haz no time fur us and we arwe lonely. We want a new home where we can be good doggies and get pets and attention and bellie rubs and cuddles and walkies and -did we mention attention? We remember u use to have a doggy and u like doggies. Since ur doggy is no longer… no longer here…” He had to take a moment before continuing. “A-and our old pawpaw is gone too… can… we…” Odelia was watching as her sweet husband tried not to cry at the words the two dogs had dictated to her (she had nearly done so herself). He rubbed his eyes a bit with his palm as he a long breath of air stuttered out of his chest. “Ca-an we be ur go-od doggies and u be o-our n… new Pawpaw?”

A sniffle escaped him as he lowered the letter. His face blotchy as he fought the urge to cry. “G-goodness, _Myska_ , can you write it a-anymore pathetic? I don’t th-think my heart is c-completely c-cru-shed yet.”

“I wrote what these two dictated, remember? It’s all them! Two doggish masters of manipulation! It’s not called puppy eyes technique because humans were the first to use it!” She herself would have cave, like, sentence three. But this was a request for Julian, not her.

He had laid the letter on top of his chest as he stroked the dogs at his side lovingly. Concern etched into his forehead as he spoke his thoughts. “I… don’t know… I mean, it’s not like I’m against th-the idea _entirely_ , but well… I… I don’t _mean_ to sound negative, but… but our home is way too small to add two dogs on top of everything else. A-and these two are trained hunting dogs! Ex-familiars or not, they’ll instinctively go after Posey a-and Juniper!”

Odelia smiled at his consideration. “Don’t worry about that. We can work around Posey and Juniper. What do _you_ want to do? Taking them in would make them _yours_. Like Brundle was yours. Like Lady and Sebby are mine. I know you’ve craved the affection and been a little disappointed at how much I’m chosen over you.”

“I...I didn’t realize I was so, ah, transparent.” He glanced away in embarrassment. He didn’t mean to come off as _that_ desperate.

“Don’t think you’re the first I’ve seen disappointed.” Odelia smiled, scooting closer so she could run her fingers through his hair. “Sebby never even took to Asra. Tolerated him. Unlike you, where he’ll come ask for food and the occasional pet and _sometimes_ sit in your lap- until you make a big deal of it. And Lady follows _me_ everywhere.”

“But what about Posey? And Juniper? It’ll definitely be a problem.”

“Firstly, as much as I love Posey and Juniper, I don’t have as strong of a bond with them as I do with Sebby and Lady. Juniper’s a fox. She will always be too feral to be fully housebroken or anything more than a wild animal that I love. And Posey’s life is short. I would be foolish to bond too much with something that dies in a few years time. Secondly, I’ve already secured them new homes, if you want these two. Homes that I visit _all_ the time. In fact, Juniper will probably be going regardless, because her quality of life will be even _better_.”

“Where… where will they be going?” Julian was already pulling the two dogs closer and Odelia could tell he wanted them, but the thought of her losing any of her animals because of his wants weighed on his consciousness. He _wouldn’t_ admit to wanting them until he _knew_ her animals were in good homes and that his wife wouldn’t begrudge him for having to give them up. Though she wanted him to admit his wants, she knew he wasn’t _there_ yet. Alleviating him of his anxiousness would help him voice his desires in this situation.

She maneuvered so that she was lying on his chest, arms around his neck, and her nose running up and down his temple as she spoke softly in his ear. “Pasha is taking Juniper. Since she’s in charge of the wild animal reserve, she lives in a pretty nice place on the property and Juniper will have a bigger area to run around in and a _way_ bigger habitat than the one in our apartment. And Pasha loves Juni. And since Juniper was raised around cats- the whole set up is even better.”

“And Posey?”

“Nadia could pet that bunny for hours. Has too. Chandra doesn’t attack her either, so Nadia will be taking Posey in exchange for us taking these two menaces off her hands. Posey’ll be a royal bunny for the rest of her life. Probably get really fat with how much she’ll be spoiled too.”

“It’ll still be quite cramped in the apartment with three dogs, two humans, and one cat.”

“Well, when it becomes too much, we’ll just figure out a creative solution so it's _not_ cramped with ‘ _three dogs, two humans, and one cat’_.” She lifted her lips to press them against his temple in a sweet kiss. “We’ll fret about it later. What do _you_ want, Juli.”

“Oh I’m Juli today, hmm?” There was a playful tease in his tone as he deflected.

She nipped at his earlobe, getting a startled gasp. “Keep it up and you’ll be ‘Pretty Princess Jules’ all day tomorrow.”

He whined a bit at that name. “ _Ugh_. It’s never going to go away. I still get called that at times down at the Raven.”

“Change taverns.”

“ _Blasphemy._ ”

“Then suffer.” She suckled a bit on his earlobe, eliciting a pleased groan before quitting her ministrations to press the original subject. “So, what are we doing about these two?”

“Is it really okay if we keep them?” His tone was shy and she sat up, straddling his waist with her legs and her hands on his blanketed chest, observing his expression. He still looked unsure about if it was alright. 

“This isn’t about if it’s okay or not okay. Outside of our sexual activities, I don’t get to dictate what you have permission to want or not want- and even then I don’t have ultimate control because your consent is important to me. Yes, I helped with this because this seemed like something you’d like, but I told these two it’d ultimately be _your_ decision. So this. This right here is about what do _you_ want, Julian? Right, wrong, doesn’t matter. I simply want to hear _you_ tell me what _you_ want.”

It didn’t take anymore coaxing to get him to admit his desires. His face turned serious, the uncertainty was gone. “I want this, _Myska_. I want _them_. I want to have dogs that are _mine_.”

Immediately after admitting that, both Melchior and Mercedes, barely able to contain their excitement, sprang up and began to kiss at his face, tails wagging like crazy. Julian sputtered as he was barraged with kisses once more. However this time, he wrapped his arms around both dogs and yanked them off their feet and into his chest. Their bodies slammed into Odelia’s arms on his chest, knocking her a bit off balance and with a surprised shriek from her, as he bucked his hips up, she crashed down against his chest between the squirming dogs. He linked his hands behind her and held all three of them in one of his famous bear hugs.

“Okayokayokay!” Julian chanted at the continued kisses from the dogs, though they were mostly licking at his neck now. 

“Juli!” His wife cried out as she wriggled and squirmed to escape. He kicked up one of his legs, pushing the blanket out of his way and skillfully crossed his gangly appendage so that she was locked in. “ _No~ No fair~!_ ”

He craned his neck to kiss her lips getting a squeal from her as she yanked her head back.

“Yuck! No kisses! You’re covered in dog saliva!”

“Jokes on you, I’ve _been_ covered in saliva. You've been smooching me with doggy spit all over me the whole time!”

“Oh gross! I did! _Phwaw, phwaw._ I can _taste_ it! Yuck!”

“Doggie kisses. _Mwah!”_ He kissed her lips again, causing her to try to squirm out, but he simply tugged her back up between the squirming dogs also trapped in his arms and kissed her again. “ _Mwah, mwah, mwah_. _Oomphf_!”

Lady hated to be left out and jumped in, landing on top of Odelia and licking at any skin she could reach. Julian looped her into his hold too. He held them all tightly for a moment before, just to be obnoxious and because he _could_ , began to rock the lot of them back and forth on his chest while crooning some sort of Nevivion sea shanty.

“ _Ah_! Did I marry a man or a bear!?” She forgot how strong he was until he pulled stunts like this. Gangly bear man.

“Oho-ho-ho-ho~ You may never know, _Myska_.” He pressed a kiss to her crown, giving them all one more tight squeeze before quitting his rocking and simply held them all as he reveled in the moment. The dogs had all settled down and were just soaking up the attention in this cuddle pile.

“They’ll need new collars.” Julian spoke aloud.

“Naturally. I am not very fond of the whole gold aesthetic.”

“Yeah and the spikes really dig into the flesh.” He grunted as he began to loosen his hold. He had been able to ignore it due to the blanket buffering the effects, but it was really starting to smart.

“Oh shit! Are you okay, Julian?” She was already checking for injuries.

“Perfectly.” He looped his arms out from around the dogs to wrap around his wife’s tiny waist. “I have two new dogs and a wonderful wife.” He pushed his face into the nape of her neck. “I’m really so very lucky, my darling _Myska_.”

There was a long pause before Odelia spoke. “Wide, black lambskin collars? Silver heart shaped tags?”

“Definitely.” He agreed. “How are they with people?”

She paused, listening to a series of barks, whines, and doggy huffing. “How agreeable do you want them around strangers?”

“If they are to be in the clinic with me, very agreeable. _Especially_ around children. No biting for any pulled tails and such.”

There was another pause and a few more barks. “They are willing to be that agreeable only if they are allowed to reserve the right to attack threats to your person without commands if you seem under duress and cannot give commands. Also, decent treats for any amount of tail pulling that they endure.”

“Done.”

“Well, it looks like our family now has _three_ dogs.”

“Sebastian will be _thrilled_.” Sebby, in fact, would not be thrilled.

“Sebby will deal with it. I’ll just have to give him a few extra doses of catnip in the beginning to help him adjust.”

“Ohohoho? Drugging your cat to get him to cooperate, sounds criminal.”

“Well, I did marry a criminal, so- _ah_! No! I’m ticklish!!”

“Oh, I’m _quite_ aware.”

Before he could fully declare a tickle attack on his wife, the bell above his clinic door rang and the two of them froze. The look on Odelia’s face told him that she was _certain_ she had remembered to lock it.

It was Portia’s voice called out from the door. “I’m sorry I let myself if with the key you gave me, Ilya. I was too excited to wait to hear if you’re keeping th- what are you two doing?”

The two of them let out a sigh of relief before Julian threw his wife a mischievous grin and a waggle of his eyebrows. She raised a brow, her impish lopsided smile pulling at her lips. 

“Pasha.” Julian whispered in a frantic, excited tone. “Pasha, you gotta come over here and see this.”

“See what? You cuddling three dogs and Odie? I can see that from here.” She didn’t budge from the door, Pepi at her heels. “Why are you on the floor anyways?”

“Come here. If you come here, you’ll see it.” Odelia gave Julian his props. He was quite the method actor. He sounded so earnest and excited.

She hesitantly walked towards them, as if unsure this was a trap.

“Closer. No, no, no, _closer_. Pasha, do you _want_ to see it or not? _Closer_.”

“ _Ilya_ ,” Portia said rather exasperated. She took one final step to stand by Julian’s shoulder as he peered up at her with a smile. “I’m standing _right_ here. _What_ am I looking for?”

He released his hold on his wife in his arms to wave his sister closer. “You need to bend a bit to see it. I _swear_ , Pasha, it’s great!”

She leaned down, suspicion coiled in her shoulders as well as written on her face as she did. She didn’t even register Julian’s hand shoot out to grab at her shoulder and pull her down until she was tumbling towards the hodgepodge group with a surprised yelp. Odelia caught her so that she didn’t land hard on either Julian or the dogs, but before she could really collect herself, both Julian and Odelia were declaring “Tickle fight!”

“Ahahahahahaha~ Nooooo~ I-Ilya! O-Odie!! No fair!!! Hahahaahahaaa- ah! _Ugh_! No! No dog kisses! P-Pepi! Hahahahaha~! Save me~!”

Pepi decidedly chose not to join the conglomerate mess of dogs and humans on the floor to rescue her human and instead went next door to go visit Sebby.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to get this out on Friday, but I had a long week and wanted to read more than I wanted to write, but I finally got it done. Send some constructive or uplifting comments my way if you'd like to help up my endorphins a little. It's been a week. I am weak to kind words or at least a kudo or seven.
> 
> And just to establish- Julian is still moving past a lot of his past problems, including feeling conformable asking and taking things he wants. In the novel, he had to be told he could be selfish and take the things he wanted without needing to deserve them. Things like that just don't vanish immediately, but half the battle of getting better is wanting to get better. Odelia works with him on that by giving him opportunities to take what he wants over her dictating it directly or giving him what she knows he wants or might want.
> 
> Also, compromise is a part of a healthy relationship. Relationships are all about give and take and if someone is taking more than they give consistently, consider if that relationship is really healthy for you.
> 
> Species or breeds of the animals mentions:  
> Lady is an Irish Settler.  
> Melchior and Mercedes are Borzoi.  
> Juniper is a red fox.  
> Posey is a Lop bunny.  
> Sebastian (Sebby) is a dark fur tortoiseshell cat with one eye.
> 
> Also, foxes can never fully be housebroken and will constantly urinate on things to mark territory, like your bed or that drink you left unattended. Most foxes needed a caged habitat outside. If you want to learn more about foxes, I suggest following Saveafox_rescue on Instagram. They rescue foxes from bad homes and from fur farms- which are still very much a thing. Mouse, the sapphire red fox, is one of my favorites, but her health is delicate because of she a genetic mess (all Sapphire Red Foxes are).
> 
> Also, I have a tumblr account. Come shoot me an ask or a request @thearcanaartificer (The Arcana Artificer). I enjoy the challenge.


End file.
